Aurangzeb manuscript now in Patna museum

A rare manuscript authored by 17th century Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, that was recovered two days ago after its theft from a Bihar school library, would be shifted to the high security Patna Museum.

After all the pages of the manuscript were recovered in Gaya district, police have initiated a move to shift it to the museum in Bihar's capital.

"In view of the security, we have requested the concerned department to shift this rare manuscript to the Patna museum," Gaya superintendent of police Amit Jain said on Monday.

Jain said it was not proper to keep this rare manuscript again in Gaya without proper security arrangements.

All the pages of the manuscript titled Gulistan, stolen last year, have been recovered. While 19 pages of the manuscript were recovered four days ago, the remaining 102 pages were recovered from a village in Gaya district on Saturday, police said.

"A special police team raided the house of Butai Singh, an accused in the theft, in Chakkan Bigha village and recovered the remaining 102 pages on Saturday night," Jain said on Sunday.

The manuscript is said to be worth Rs 10 million in the international market.

Police raided Singh's house after an intelligence tip-off that some people were hiding in the village with the remaining pages of Gulistan.

But police failed to arrest Singh and the other accused as they managed to flee.

Earlier, three people were arrested while negotiating the sale of the manuscript with a Kolkata-based antique dealer who had offered them Rs 2 million.

Later a young businessman, Amit Kumar Soni, who runs a jewellery shop in Gaya, was also arrested in this connection.

"All the four arrested were sent to jail and police have launched an operation to arrest the absconders," Jain said.

Gulistan, written in Persian, was stolen from the Tekari Raj High School library in Gaya about six months ago. Police had suspected the hand of international antiques smugglers in the theft.

Magadh Divisional Commissioner SK Negi had cautioned the school authorities about the safety of the manuscript earlier.

Gulistan, which has colourful paintings and embroidery, also has a picture (sketch) of Aurangzeb (1618 to 1707) on the cover page.

"The rare manuscript was lying in the school for over 100 years," a district official said.

According to a page written in Urdu that was recovered along with the remaining pages of Gulistan, Aurangzeb spent Rs 100,000 to complete it.